Name
by Autobot Trapjaw
Summary: Duke lost his wife and daughter in a freak accident involving a deer, and he had never been the same after. Eight years later, Flint tries to help Duke recover...
1. Chapter 1

Name- G.I. Joe fic

Duke/OC

Chapter one

* * *

A/N; Let's see how this unfolds. I fell in love with G.I. Joe, so I thought I'd write a fic...

* * *

It rained. Rain brought back the horror, the pain, of his loss but he couldn't remain inside. Inside made the suffering worse.

Duke sat on the porch steps, a set of dog tags squished between his thumb and index fingertip. He'd been through so much and been so strong, but this was different. Deeper. He closed his eyes as he rubbed one of the dog tags between his fingers.

_O'Hara  
Shana M.  
O+  
Catholic_

Those dog tags, the tags his wife had once worn through countless battles, covered in sweat, rain, blood... They were some of the few tangibles Duke really had to hang onto. Those, and her wedding ring he kept on the same ball chain necklace as the tags. Everything else was either a picture or a memory.

* * *

_"Damn it, Red... We made one good looking kid."_

_"She's got your feet, Duke... Huge things, they are." He smiled._

_"Is that such a bad thing?"_

_"Depends on what she decides to do with her life. If she falls in love with ballet, she's screwed."_

That made the rain worse for Duke; he hadn't just lost his wife, but their daughter as well. The two were victims of a freak car accident involving a deer, and Scarlett died shortly after. Their daughter's body was never found, but there was no way she could have survived, Duke had been told.

_"We still haven't agreed on a name, Shana," Duke stated as he rubbed his eyes in the chair next to his wife's hospital bed._

_"I know that, Captain Obvious, but you don't seem to like any of the names I come up with."_

_"And you scoff at all of my suggestions, too," Duke replied, crossing his arms. Scarlett couldn't help but smile at her husband as he sat pouting in his chair.  
"Fine, I'll admit it, I'm picky with names... So let's come up with one together."_

_"... Deal..."_

Three hours, Duke recalled. Together, they came up with a name in three hours. It was the perfect name in his mind, but he hadn't said it out loud in years.

_"Dakotah... Dakotah what, Red?"_

_"Well... I don't exactly know, Duke. You have any ideas?"_

_He pondered for a moment._

_"What about... Anna?"_

_"... Or Lynn?"_

_"I've got it!" he exclaimed softly. "Dakotah Annalyn Hauser."_

_"Dakotah Annalyn... That's different..." Scarlett said, repeating the name a few times to see how it felt on her tongue._

_"You don't like it, do you?" Duke asked, incorrectly sensing disapproval._

_"Actually... I think it's perfect," Scarlett replied, lightly stroking the peach fuzz on their daughters head. "Dakotah Annalyn Hauser..."_

"Dakotah, why did I have to lose you, too?"

* * *

"Miss Reagan, it is your turn to read. Please continue where Mr. James stopped."

The room was quiet.

"Reagan?"

People began murmuring in the social sciences class.

"Where's Reagan?"

"Don't look at me..."

"She has to be assessed today."

"Did she already get assessed?"

"Ahem... I'm in my desk, present and accounted for, thank you," a voice in the back of the classroom spoke loudly. "Miss Aubrey, it seems as if my book has been vandalized;I'm missing this whole section in my book."

"Well in that case please come up to the front. You may read from the teacher's copy," Miss Aubrey's voice rang with a sweetness reserved only for Reagan herself.

Reagan grinned. She rose from her seat, tucking her dark blonde hair behind her ear, and made her way to the front podium.

"Thank you Miss Aubrey," she softly spoke as she and the substitute traded spots. "Many do not recognize Cobra as a terrorist group mainly because most do not know of the existence. This is thanks to G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe was a special trained force of soldiers who successfully shut down the terrorist group and their operations.

"Unfortunately, almost immediately after the fall of Cobra, G.I. Joe was shut down due to sudden 'insufficient' funding, among other things, and the Joes were p-."

The bell rang. _'Great timing... you had to ring at the climax of my reading.' _Reagan thought as she put on a deceivingly perfect fake smile.

"Thank you Miss Reagan. I believe you deserve an A+ on all requirements for your reading assessment this month. That concludesclass for the day. You are dismissed."

Everyone left the room and collected manner, walking in sync and in a single file line. Reagan was last in line.

"Hey, Scarface! Get a life, you nerd! Teacher's pet!"

Reagan rolled her eyes. Most days, she'd catch some flack from Jesse, Noah, Davis, or some other hot shot jock who thought he was God. Today, it just happened to be Davis.

"You know what? Maybe I should. I've always wondered what it would be like to have an IQ less than my age."

"You trying to say something, Scarface?"

"Not trying, Davis... I already said something, but I forgot; you have a rock as a brain," Reagan said with a smirk. "Does Scarface use too big of words for Rock-brain to understand?"

"That's it, Scarface!" Davis shouted. "You're going down!"

Reagan watch carefully as the boy charged her as if he was a bull. He sprinted towards her with great agility and large strides. Still, Reagan stood motionless watching him.

_'Wait for it, Reagan... Wait for it...'_

**CRASH!**

The sound of a body being driven into a row of metal lockers rang through the halls and was followed by a moan. Reagan looked at Davis's body lying on the ground; her timing was just right.

"Serves you right, Davis. Maybe you should run into lockers headfirst more often- It might knock some sense into that thing on your shoulders."

Leaving the brainless brute on the floor, Reagan casually walked away to the science room for study hall, leaving the scene as if nothing had ever even happened.

"Damn... Reagan's a freaking ninja," someone spectating said with his eyes glued to Davis's body.

"That's for sure. I'm not getting on her bad side, Jake- Who knows what offensive skills she has."

"I don't want to find out."

"Me neither."

The bell rang again. Hours 0 to 5 down, hours 6 to 8 still to go...

* * *

"Everyone sit down and shut up while I take attendance!"

The room went from being social hour to quiet as a church in a second.

"Thank you."

Mr. Krasinski took note of the absences in his study hall. "Let's see... Two absences? Okay. Let me mark them down and then you may go to the library or the computer lab. Sign out at the back table before you leave."

Reagan rose from her desk with her planner in the crook of her arm. She spent her study halls in the computer lab. Mr. Krasinski's class was just too noisy for her. Grabbing a pen, she quickly, but neatly, filled out the sign out sheet.

_Reagan Bell_

_Hour 6_

_Destination: Rm. 325_

_Not returning_

She set the pen next to the clipboard after she filled in the last box on the sheet and tucked her hair behind her ear again before making her way to the door. As she reached for the doorknob, another hot shot -Alex- lobbed a paper ball at Reagan, then immediately looked at his desk.

_'Ass... ' _

She picked up the crumpled paper and left the room, having a general idea about what the paper said. It always said the same thing, each time in a different handwriting, but always the same message.

Reagan walked out into the main hallway to get to the freshman stairwell, and once she was far from any possible gossip-spreaders, she unfolded the wad of paper.

_Heard you admired G.I. Joe - found some sites you might enjoy about them, Scarface._

_Alex_

_'Well, that's a little different from the usual fan mail, Reagan...'_

At the bottom of the paper were a few addresses. Reagan looked at them for a second more. They would be quite interesting to look at...

"Screw it. Alex, you're not as much of an ass as I thought," Reagan said, tucking the paper into her skirt pocket and continuing up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Name - G.I. Joe Fic**

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: I do apologize for the extreme delay. With my summer being booked, among other things *cough cough plot bunnies wouldn't bite cough cough*, I was completely stuck, so here you go. A long deserved chapter in the story of Name. And if I haven't expressed it, Guest, your review was really amazing. It got me to finally get this chapter done. Brownie points to you, dude. Thanks again for the great support. I really appreciate it.**

* * *

The storm had gone from a heavy rain to a full-blown storm. It slammed against the panes of glass with such a force that Duke was afraid of the windows obtaining cracks. Looking at the dog tags in his hands, then to the door, and back to the tags once more, Duke decided that the house needed occupying. The porch swing creaked as he stood from it, as did the floor with each step he took to the kitchen door.

Duke hated the kitchen, but it was Scarlett's second favorite room. The walls were a light yellow with red cabinets. The floor was tiled with black and white squares, and the counter tops were an ugly light grey with multi-colored boomerangs all over them. It really was an ugly counter top, but Scarlett thought it was perfect…

The kitchen had so many good glimpses in it – not full memories, but random little snippets of memories.

_The house smelled like grilled cheese, chicken noodle soup, and apple cider as Duke walked in the door, his shirt drenched in sweat. Fixing the hole in the barn roof wasn't the best idea in 90 degree weather, but it had to get done eventually._

"_Daddy, you have to cwose da doow behind you! Momma tuwned da aiw condisionew!" Dakotah shouted as walked into the kitchen from the toy room. She crossed her arms in complete seriousness, and her dad couldn't help but laugh to himself as he shut the door behind him._

"_Oh, my deepest apologies, Dakotah. Can you ever forgive me?"_

_She thought for a second._

"…_.Yes, Daddy. You're fowgiven," She said before sitting at the table, her purple corduroy bunny in her lap. "Mamma, can Mr. Yum-Yums have some salad? He's hungwy, too."_

"_Is a grilled cheese okay?" Scarlett asked, turning to face her daughter from the sink. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands off before grabbing a freshly washed plate out of the drainer. Dakotah picked up her bunny to 'hear' what he said, then set him back down._

"_Yep, he likes sandwiches."_

"_Good to hear, Mr. Yum-Yums."_

"_What about Daddy? Does Daddy get to have lunch?" Duke asked with fake expression of jealousy as he went to fill up a Mason jar with water. His wife caught a whiff of him and wrinkled her nose._

"_After he takes a long shower, he can eat! Conrad, you smell like… like…"_

"_Like a stinky old howse!"_

Duke smiled to himself. That kid was something else, that was for sure. His smile soon faded, though. The fact that he was now alone, that his wife was dead and his daughter went missing, hurt Duke's heart.

Out of nowhere, before he realized what he was doing, Duke found himself waiting for someone to answer the phone.

* * *

"Flint! Flint, you'll never guess is on the phone right now!"

"Is it Roadblock?"

"Nope. Higher rank."

"Well, then Hawk."

"Just a bit lower."

Flint took a minute to think when it dawned on him.

"Duke?!" He was met with a nod of Lady Jaye's head. She handed him the phone as he hopped out of his reclining chair.

"Duke, is that you?"

"Hey Flint; yeah, it's me. How have you been, pal? Haven't talked to you guys for a while." Duke was trying to stay calm in his kitchen while he listened to Flint's voice on the other end of the line.

"Oh, we've been fine. Jake's playing football for school, and Marissa's getting straight A's. I couldn't ask for any better kids, Duke." Duke tried holding back the tears as he listened to his old comrade speak of his own children. He questioned why he even called in the first place.

"That's… that's great, Flint. It's good to hear, pal." Flint could hear the distress in Duke's voice.

"Con, you okay? You're over there in that house by yourself, and it's not good for you."

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dashiell," he said, pausing for a moment to rub his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't even know why I called, Flint. I didn't realize I had until it was ringing. I apologize for interrupting your evening."

"Con, it's fine. We were just waiting for the kids to get home. It's no trouble, really."

"Thanks, Dashiell… I just… I've been thinking a lot of Shana lately… and Dakotah. I'm so alone, Flint. I have no family now."

"….Conrad, why don't you come and spend a week with us?" Flint knew what the answer was before Duke even gave it; no.

"I couldn't, Flint. That would be too much of me to ask."

"No, no! I insist, Duke; come and stay with us for a while. There's more than enough room for you."

"I don't know, Flint…"

"Duke, you're coming to our house. Alison, the kids, and I insist that you do. You best be ready for my arrival because I'll be there on Monday."

PG

Reagan watched the storm worsen as she waited for the computer to boot up. The fact that Alex had even bothered to do something nice for her bugged her. The guy was a stupid jock who cared only about football and being popular. Then again, he had always been a quiet person, all through elementary and middle school. Maybe he wasn't so bad…

But he was the reason they all called her Scarface. Alex had dubbed her Scarface back when she started second grade and all the other jocks caught on. The only popular kid who never gave her crap about the scar on her face was Jake. Jake didn't find it funny to point out the long faint line on the right side of Reagan's face. He knew that it bothered her when people pointed it out, and in fourth grade, he punched Jesse in the face for taunting her about it. That's how Jake became her best friend.

The strike of lightning made Reagan snap out of her little daydream about Jake punching Jesse, and it also knocked out the power. Reagan sat in the darkness, crossing her arms.

"Great… back to study hall." School rules stated that in a situation of a power outage, students had to be with the teacher they were with that hour. She grabbed her planner and pencil and walked out the door. Down the hall, all the other rooms had lost power as well. Several immature students screamed because they thought it funny.

'_Dips…'_

* * *

It was still pouring when school let out. The streets were half flooded when Reagan ran to her father's navy blue pick-up truck.

"Reagan, how was school today? I see you got a nice shower." He smirked.

"Yes I did, Dad… and if you must know, I got Davis to ram himself into a bunch of lockers today. The jerk charged me, and I side stepped him. Jerk didn't even know what hit 'im."

Her dad nodded. "Not bad… So, got any plans this weekend? Maybe some time at Jake's?" Reagan looked at him with a smirk.

"Not yet, no… Maybe I'll text him to see what he's up to on Friday."

"Isn't there a game on Friday?"

"Yeah, but Jake's benched this week. You know how it is…"

Reagan looked at her dad. He was a big guy with brown hair and brown eyes. Reagan had blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked a lot like her mom, she had been told; she had the blonde hair, and she came from a family of blue eyed Polish people. Sadly enough, Reagan was informed of her mother's departure when she was merely a four-year old child. She never remembered it, and she didn't remember much of anything from before age five. The things she did remember were things that didn't actually happen, almost as if they were from a dream.

"Yeah, I know…"

Her phone buzzed; it was Jake.

"'_Hey, want to sleep over this weekend? Marissa's having a slumber party; she wanted you to come…'_ Can I go? You have to work this weekend, and next week is Break."

Her father pondered for a moment. "Jake's the only guy that's gonna be there, right?"

"If Mr. Faireborn has anything to do with it, Dad… C'mon. Please?" At this point she was practically begging.

"…. Okay, fine. If next week's break, you might as well ask if you can stay next week. I have to be in Cincinnati until next Tuesday."

* * *

"Jacob, go get the door! The Bells are here!"

"Yes, sir."

Jake had been made official doorman of the party, which really sucked. Open the door, greet the guest kindly, carry their bags, and close the door. If it had been anyone else, like, not any of Marissa's girly-girl friends, it wouldn't have been so bad.

He opened the door. "Hey, Jake. How's the life of the doorman going?"

"Oh, it's fantastic, Reagan. Come on in."

"Good evening, Reagan. I'm glad you could join the party tonight." Mr. Faireborn had been reading the paper in the kitchen, but Faireborns and the Bells had grown quite close as families with Jake and Reagan being best friends. He put his hand out to her.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay, sir. I hope it's no bother that I'm staying all week as well," Reagan replied, taking his hand and shaking it with a grip stronger than expected.

"Oh, it's not a bother at all," he said, surprised at the girl's hand grip. "Adam, how are you, pal?" He turned his attention to Reagan's dad.

"I'm great, Dashiell. Thanks again for letting Reagan stay for the week. I have to be in Cincinnati until next Tuesday."

"Oh, it's no big deal. We have another guest coming in on Monday. He's staying with us until he gets back on his feet."

"Oh?" Adam looked at Reagan who shrugged.

"Yeah, a close family friend; he's been having a rough time for a while. I hope that's okay with you."

"Yeah, that's fine. He work with you when-"

"When Alison and I were in the military, yeah…"

"I see. Well, Reagan, I gotta get going. I have an early flight tomorrow, so I'll see you after break," he said, looking at his watch. "I love you, kiddo."

"I love you, too, Daddy. See you soon."

Adam bit his lip at the word 'Daddy.' He never felt like he deserved that title.

* * *

"Bow to me, my loyal spy. Has the trap been set?"

"Yes, Lord Serpentor. The target has taken the bait. Wherever she decides to use them is where she will become ours, Master."

"Excellent, my dear son. With the target established, we can begin to retake what is ours and rule this world with the iron fist it needs... Alexander, you are dismissed."

"Yes, my Lord. Thank you, my lord."


End file.
